Road warrior

Thursday

Jun 14, 2012 at 12:01 AMJun 14, 2012 at 8:07 AM

STOCKTON - It can withstand AK-47 rounds from point-blank range. Fifty-caliber bullets will not penetrate its hull or puncture its run-flat tires. Ballistic glass more than an inch thick protects the occupants as they serve high-risk search warrants or handle hostage situations.

Jordan Guinn

STOCKTON - It can withstand AK-47 rounds from point-blank range. Fifty-caliber bullets will not penetrate its hull or puncture its run-flat tires. Ballistic glass more than an inch thick protects the occupants as they serve high-risk search warrants or handle hostage situations.

It is a modified Ford F-550 truck known as the Lenco BearCat G3, and it is the newest addition to the Stockton Police Department's motor pool.

Essentially paid for by selling items taken from drug dealers the past several years, the BearCat was formally introduced to the community Wednesday morning during a Stockton SWAT team training session. Team members have learned how to maneuver the truck, and they have familiarized themselves with its various crime-fighting amenities.

"There's literally no place on this thing where the manufacturers didn't think about the truck's ability to stop a round," said Lt. Eric Ingersoll, SWAT commander for Stockton police. "It's specifically set up for SWAT and tactical use."

For years, Stockton's SWAT team members have arrived at crime scenes in a used vehicle donated by an armored trucking company. And while the van has served the department well, officials are not sentimental and eagerly welcomed the BearCat.

"The old car was designed to haul money," Ingersoll said. "This is specifically made for high-risk, hazard situations."

The truck is fabricated by Lenco Armored Vehicles, a company in Pittsfield, Mass., that sells its products to the military and police forces throughout the nation.

The Stockton Police Department paid about $300,000 for the truck, but not one cent came from the city's general fund, said Officer Joe Silva, a spokesman for the department.

"Over the past three or four years, we decided we wanted a vehicle like this for our SWAT team because they serve about 70 high-risk search warrants each year," Silva said. "We've been saving money in our asset-seizure forfeiture account specifically for this for about three or four years."

The cash, which is raised by confiscating property or narcotics during raids or investigations, can only be spent on equipment, Silva said.

Since it arrived in Stockton in late May, the BearCat has been used twice. Additionally, it was out during a late-May downtown protest spearheaded by Occupy Oakland.

Police know the truck is intimidating, but they expect it to help lead to peaceful resolutions in tense situations. Ingersoll pointed to the portholes on the truck's doors as a feature that will prove helpful in hostage situations.

"We can use the portholes to put a phone at the end of an extended pole and put it into a home to communicate with a suspect and not expose our officers to danger," he said.

Many of his predecessors in the department spent about eight years researching various makes and models before deciding on the BearCat, Ingersoll said.

"I'm fortunate enough to be the one who was here when we purchased the vehicle," he said.